Antrim East constituency - tutorial aa14561 « Informative articles & step by step tutorials

Antrim East constituency - tutorial aa14561

For the modern UK Parliament constituency and devolved institutions constituency see East Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)

East Antrim County constituency
Created:	1885
Abolished:	1922
Type:	House of Commons

Antrim East (otherwise known as East Antrim) was a former UK Parliament constituency in Ireland.

Table of Contents

A1 Boundaries and boundary changes
A2 Politics
A3 The First Dáil
A4 Members of Parliament
A5 Elections
- A5.1 More info
A6 References
A7 Links

Boundaries & boundary changes

This county constituency comprised the eastern part of County Antrim. From 1885 it consisted of the baronies of Belfast Lower and Glenarm Upper, and parts of the baronies of Antrim Upper, Antrim Lower and Belfast Upper, & the town of Carrickfergus.

It returned one Member of Parliament 1885-1922.

Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 and from the dissolution of Parliament in 1922 the area was part of the Antrim constituency.

Politics

The constituency was a strongly conservative then unionist area. There was not the slightest chance of a republican or nationalist candidate being elected.

From 1886 to 1974 the Conservative and Unionist members of the United Kingdom House of Commons formed a single Parliamentary party.

From 1905 there was an Ulster Unionist organisation, but MPs sponsored by it are classified as Irish Unionists until the Northern Ireland general election, 1921 made the partition of Ireland effective so that Irish Unionism ceased to be a realistic objective.

A victory for the Unionist candidate in 1918 by 15,206 votes to Sinn Féin's 861 votes demonstrated the virtual unanimity of the unionist support.

Not surprisingly Sinn Féin did not bother to contest the 1919 by-election in the constituency.

The First Dáil

Sinn Féin contested the general election of 1918 on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the United Kingdom Parliament, they would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a potential Deputy to this assembly. In practise only the Sinn Féin members accepted the offer.

The revolutionary First Dáil assembled on 21 Jan 1919 and last met on 10 May 1921. The First Dáil, according to a resolution passed on 10 May 1921, was formally dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil. This took place on 16 Aug 1921.

In 1921 Sinn Féin decided to use the UK authorised elections for the Northern Ireland House of Commons & the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as a poll for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil. This area, in republican theory, was incorporated in a seven-member Dáil constituency of Antrim.

Members of Parliament

Key to parties: C Conservative, Ind U Independent Unionist, U Irish Unionist (1886-April 1921) & Ulster Unionist (May 1921-1922).

From	To	Name (Party)	Born	Died
1885	1913	James Martin McCalmont (C,U)	1847	2 Feb 1913
1913	1919	Robert Chaine Alexander McCalmont (U)	29 Aug 1881	4 Nov 1953
1919	1922	George Boyle Hanna (Ind U)	17 Dec 1887	30 Oct 1938

Elections

The elections in this constituency took place using the first past the post electoral system.

General Election 4 Dec 1885: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Conservative	James Martin McCalmont	4,180	66.51	N/A
	Liberal	Marriott Robert Dalway	2,105	33.49	N/A
Majority			2,075	33.02	N/A
Turnout			8,773	71.64	N/A
	Conservative gain from new seat		Swing	N/A

General Election 6 Jul 1886: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	James Martin McCalmont	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

General Election 9 Jul 1892: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	James Martin McCalmont	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 17 Jul 1895: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	James Martin McCalmont	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 10 Oct 1900: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	James Martin McCalmont	3,582	57.45	N/A
	Independent Unionist	Dr James King-Kerr	2,653	42.55	N/A
Majority			929	14.90	N/A
Turnout			8,886	70.17	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 19 Jan 1906: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	James Martin McCalmont	4,496	67.70	+10.25
	Russellite Unionist	Henry Rosere Beddoes	2,145	32.30	+32.30
Majority			2,351	35.40	+20.50
Turnout			8,606	77.17	+7.00
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 19 Jan 1910: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	James Martin McCalmont	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 5 Dec 1910: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	James Martin McCalmont	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Death of McCalmont

By-Election 19 Feb 1913: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	R.C.A. McCalmont	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 14 Dec 1918: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Irish Unionist	R.C.A. McCalmont	15,206	94.64	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Daniel Dumigan	861	5.36	N/A
Majority			14,345	89.28	N/A
Turnout			24,798	64.79	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Appointment of McCalmont as commander of the Irish Guards

By-Election 27 May 1919: East Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	percent	± percent
	Independent Unionist	George Boyle Hanna	8,714	48.30	+48.30
	Irish Unionist	William Agnew Moore	7,549	41.84	-52.80
	Independent	Charles McFerran Legg	1,778	9.86	+9.86
Majority			1,165	6.46	N/A
Turnout			24,798	72.75	N/A
	Independent Unionist gain from Irish Unionist		Swing	N/A

Constituency abolished in the redistribution of 1922

See also

List of Irish constituencies
List of UK Parliament Constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland
Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918
MPs elected in the UK general election, 1918
List of Dáil Éireann constituencies in Ireland (historic)
Members of the 1st Dáil
Antrim (Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies)

References for this article

Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume II 1886-1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1978)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume III 1919-1945, edited by M. Stenton & S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1979)

Links

Related articles - County Antrim, Historic Westminster constituencies in Northern Ireland, Historic Westminster constituencies in Ireland, Parliamentary (Dáil Éireann) constituencies in Ireland (historic)

Current article revision

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This page was last modified by Admin. Previous modification to this article was done on 13:00, 18 Sept 2006 by Wikipedia user George Burgess. Based on work by Wikipedia user(s) Gary J, The wub, Jnestorius, Warofdreams, Marudubshinki and Rich Farmbrough.

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Sinn Féin and its travails… part 2 « The Cedar Lounge Revolution: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:24:57 GMT - Our European vote was up overall, and up significantly in the South and East constituencies. He doesn't mention that the FPV at the local elections was marginally down. Still, he also notes that this was came… .... In the north there have been plenty of councillors or local personalities resigning – not in Belfast where a tightish lid is kept on things, but in places like Ballycastle, Antrim or down in Fermanagh – and it doesn't add up to anything much politically. ...
After the Euro Elections, the CUs suddenly have winnable ...: Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:46:00 GMT - Antrim East (Sammy Wilson's seat) looks like the next most vulnerable. It would require a swing against the DUP of about 5% on top of the 25% loss of votes. In Upper Bann, the 25% reduction would prevent the DUP being the largest party but a swing of 5% ... In PR systems where you have more than one elected rep to a constituency, you do not get the strength of that link and you are more likely to have representatives who only look after the interests of their own “side”. ...

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Antrim East constituency - tutorial aa14561

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